Mourning In Baghdad—Let Our Love Be Loud

Nobody sees being shot or bombed as normal—not in Iraq, not anywhere. Nobody gets used to raising black funeral banners, to being hated, to having their friends and family blown up, shot, targeted because of the melanin in their skin, because they're law enforcement, because of their religion or ethnicity.

Nobody gets used to it, and that's exactly why we must not, either.

For the sake of our own souls and for the sake of suffering people the world-over, we can not allow hate to become the new normal.

Refuse to numb. Refuse to jab back. Refuse to prep, to dig in, to add more bricks to your walls. Refuse to be terrorized, polarized, ostracized.

These bombs are explosive. Let our love be more-so.

These plans to destroy are creative. Let our plans to remake the world be more-so.

This pain ruins and hardens hearts. Let our pain move us to compassion.